Grazing • Access and amenity • Pollution • Coastal defence maintenance • Alternative uses

Access and amenity (cont)

Bird-watching and walking • Wildfowling • Other activities

Other activities

The other recreational activities listed below which require access to, or through, a marsh have to potential to have a localised impact on the habitat. When used continuously, paths across a marsh can cause compaction of the substrate and may impede drainage. The use of vehicles can be more serious, causing the break up of the surface vegetation and changes to drainage which may ultimately result in erosion. However, this only occurs at a few sites and the damage is usually fairly localised.

Examples of the other main recreational activities that may potentially affect saltmarshes are listed below:

• Boating/mooring;
• Leisure fishing;
• Power boating and jet skiing;
• Sailing;
• Wind surfing; and
• Horse riding.

When taken together with other uses of estuaries for recreational purposes, it appears as though, at least potentially, saltmarshes could be under threat. However, it is not so much the use of the area for activities such as boating, jet skiing etc. which poses the threat, but often the loss of land consequent upon the building of infrastructure associated with them.

Access for other uses such as agriculture, flood defence and oil pollution clean up can cause harm as vehicular use may result in damage to the surface of a marsh. Prolonged use can cause ruts and permanent changes to drainage and may lead to erosion and/or changes in its value for birds.